GM Sphen Rise of the Runelords: (Clever Subtitle)

Game Master Sphen86

I deny everything!

Sounds like the convention was a success to me. Kudos - it's clear you put a lot of work into it, pat yourself on the back.

@Tarphrex: Deny all you want. We have the films. Soon all the world will know.

@Sherman: Correct, about 3 hours south of Chicago.

Lies! Fake news! I wasn’t even there at the time!

You have all formulated plans, and some of you have complicated character mechanics, so I don't want to bot a character if I don't have to.
Especially since one of you is in danger and the "right" thing to do is not obvious.

That being said, we do need a posted action to continue forward.

Whose turn is it? I thought it was the enemy’s turn.

I may be wrong but from what I understand, we're still waiting on Ceven and me. I was kind of waiting to be the last person since I wasn't sure what effect party members attacking the plant would have on my situation. In the interest of moving things along I'll just take a stab at it from the inside :D

I thought we were waiting on Ceven, also.

omg i am so sorry, i did not have that in my head :(
i can blast the plant this morning

No worries!

These things happen, no worries! Things got a little technical and it can be hard to keep track when something like that happens.

My trip starts today, so feel free to bot me as necessary. I'll pray that by the time I get back Estella will still be alive for me to play.

Enjoy your trip!

We are already headed east to celebrate a freshly-minted optometrist.

@Estella: Have a good trip. I'll be watching the local papers for the mysterious deaths of corrupt local business owners that I'm sure are totally unrelated.

@Ceven: Can we get that blast? Or at least let me know which creature you'd like to blast?

The plant :)

I am off tomorrow, but if you see this and can bot it before then, I would be very appreciative.

I will try to bot Ceven, but I'm not confident that I know how to resolve his attacks.

A recent post seems to indicate that the attack roll is +8 and a force blast damage is 4d6+2. IIRC, force damage shuts down the damage reduction(?) so it's better than using the telekinetic blast in my mind.

EDIT: I see that it is not force, but bludgeoning, which telekinetic blast can do by virtue of the type of object being thrown. Since that seems to be Ceven's thing, let's use it instead. Damage 4d6+9 and no need to track burn.

Amazing work!
Thank you!

I knew in my mind that I wasn't going to be on yesterday. It was my oldest's birthday. And I knew that I needed to post to move the combat forward.

But nary between did these two thoughts meet; they just passed each other like ships in the night.

So, that's my bad and I am sorry.

Thank you to Tarphrex for helping out. Things have obviously been very busy for me lately but I will be able to pay much more attention to the game now.

No sweat! And my trip was OK, no doubt thanks to your enthusiastic encouragement.

Sherman: Graul is unlikely to do better than reach the lip of the pit this round and that's if everything goes his way, if that helps your decision making. If his movement speed is 30', all he can do is get halfway with two move actions and two successful climb checks.

Well, Sherman doesn’t haven’t much against a plant, so the ogre would be better target.

No sweat! And my trip was OK, no doubt thanks to your enthusiastic encouragement.

And I saw that a trucking CEO in Illinois was killed for refusing to pay his workers. I'm sure you had nothing to do with that.....

Fair. If I recall correctly, you still have a flaming sphere in effect, which Elisani thought would prevent its regeneration, right? Do you have to concentrate on that sphere or will it sit there and burn until it expires?

Tarphrex mostly has acid, which she said is not as effective against the plant, so he's focused on the ogrekin, as well.

Hmm... is magic missile bludgeoning damage?

Addendum: I did not see anything that said force damage is automatically bludgeoning damage, so I'm going to guess MM won't do bludgeoning unless the GM wishes to rule otherwise.

Elisani's about to get greased, I think.

Force damage is not bludgeoning, force is it's own damage type (and great one at that).
And I just remembered the flaming sphere myself when going through the old posts. But had forgotten about it until then...

Do we see anything of Estella? Ie. can she be healed if need be?
Also, usually the easiest way to escape having been swallow is to cut one's way through.

Addendum: I did not see anything that said force damage is automatically bludgeoning damage, so I'm going to guess MM won't do bludgeoning unless the GM wishes to rule otherwise.

I will not rule otherwise. Especially since you have a ready source of bludgeoning damage from Ceven.

Do we see anything of Estella? Ie. can she be healed if need be?
Also, usually the easiest way to escape having been swallow is to cut one's way through.

She still has the life link on, so she's healing that way. But any creature inside the Tnedriculos has full cover.

Wow, am I ever glad I dipped a level of swashbuckler. And here I thought I was just getting rapier feats and weapon proficiencies!

It worked out for you.
We should discuss parry/reposte though. I presume you'd like to use it every round? I also presume against the first attack that targets you?
It is a precedent that we should set going forward instead of letting you decide if you should use it after you see the attack results.

I thought I had written in my attack post that I wanted to parry any subsequent attacks from the tendriculos? Although I'll skip the riposte considering my very limited supply of panache. Inspired Blade can't get panache from killing an enemy, only by scoring a crit with a rapier.

Whether I parry depends on how big a threat the enemy is and how badly wounded I am. Average ogrekin, probably not. Tendriculos that will swallow me if it hits, yes. Any enemy when I'm low on HP, hell yes. Shall I specify at the beginning of combat rather than on my first combat turn?

Maybe roll the parry when you make your attack and state the conditions when you would use it? Then Sphen uses it or disregards as appropriate. We had a swashbuckler in another game that did it that way.

PS Sorry about the kill-steal, I was just very concerned about the situation.

Oh, remember everyone is still hasted!

I thought I had written in my attack post that I wanted to parry any subsequent attacks from the tendriculos? Although I'll skip the riposte considering my very limited supply of panache. Inspired Blade can't get panache from killing an enemy, only by scoring a crit with a rapier.

The parry is what costs panache, riposte doesn't (but you need to have at least on riposte left in your pool). And riposte is immediate action, so you can do it only once per round anyway.

Elisani Dascalu wrote:

I thought I had written in my attack post that I wanted to parry any subsequent attacks from the tendriculos? Although I'll skip the riposte considering my very limited supply of panache. Inspired Blade can't get panache from killing an enemy, only by scoring a crit with a rapier.

The parry is what costs panache, riposte doesn't (but you need to have at least on riposte left in your pool). And riposte is immediate action, so you can do it only once per round anyway.

I played a swashbuckler in PFS for some 30 games, and noticed the parry-riposte started to suffer when enemies had several attacks.

More specifically, it is an attack of opportunity. Which means Combat Reflexes allows you to do it more.

@Elisani: My memory had you saying that the next attack would be parried, but (through no fault of yours, entirely mine) I had you parry the attack that actually hit.
I was more going for a standard operating procedure. Would you like to parry the first eligible attack against you each round unless otherwise stated? The first attack from the toughest looking foe? A secret third thing?
It'll still likely take me a bit to remember whatever choice you make, but it's a step down the path.

I will be caught up soon, my apologies

Note to self, take Combat Reflexes at the next opportunity.

Hmm... how about 'first attack from tough looking enemy'? I probably won't need to parry the average mook, but things like the tendriculos or Snake Lady, yeah.

I'm back! Thank you for rescuing me.

Many thanks for that Sphen, guess I needed more than a nudge, my bad

If I had a nickel for every time the party in this campaign considers burning a run-down private residence...

We haven't burned that many, have we?? :)

I think this is the first, actually! Iirc we never ACTUALLY burned down the Misgivings, what with it being in a nice neighborhood and all.

I think this is the first, actually! Iirc we never ACTUALLY burned down the Misgivings, what with it being in a nice neighborhood and all.

You did not burn the Misgivings. It's actually written in the book that it is incredibly hard to burn. The soul of the senior Foxglove accidently became infused with the structure and it serves as his phylactery. But lots of creepy places.

I owe this game yet another apology I think; although this time it is both work and non-work which took my attention. I know noone wants to hear about COVID anymore but it is still very real, and it hit me HARD earlier this week. Will be using some of this isolation time to catch up, truly sorry to have been away ...

Hey, no apologies necessary. It happens, hope you are on the mend.

You never need to apologize for being sick, Ceven. Rest up and I hope you recover soon!

You did not burn the Misgivings. It's actually written in the book that it is incredibly hard to burn. The soul of the senior Foxglove accidently became infused with the structure and it serves as his phylactery.

I wonder if the neighbors ever complained.

Hope you're getting better, Ceven! Covid's a real bastard.

Also a small apology from me, things have been a little hectic and I kinda lost sight myself.

GM Sphen wrote:

You did not burn the Misgivings. It's actually written in the book that it is incredibly hard to burn. The soul of the senior Foxglove accidently became infused with the structure and it serves as his phylactery.

I wonder if the neighbors ever complained.

Hope you're getting better, Ceven! Covid's a real bastard.

Also a small apology from me, things have been a little hectic and I kinda lost sight myself.

Thank you! I am officially on the mend, but you're right, it's no joke. I was actually given Paxlovid to help the process. Ceven will probably come down from scouting above the party just to make sure Estella isn't being bothered ...

How many of the NPCs do you all want to take into the fort?
Shalelu
Jakardros
Vale
Kaven

I would vote for the first two.

Same. Don't know if I trust Vale or Kaven at our backs.

Same. Don't know if I trust Vale or Kaven at our backs.

Yes, which is why my vote might be to keep them ahead of us ;) I think I would prefer the untrustworthy where I can see them, but I will live with the will of the team.

I do see Ceven's point.
And if Vale or Kaven is the traitor, doesn't that put the other into danger if left alone with the traitor?